Last Rites

Book 2: Jubilee, Kentucky

by Sharon Sala

Genres: Small-town Romance; Romantic Suspense

Synopsis

Shirley Wallace and her four sons return to her childhood home on Pope Mountain in Jubilee, Kentucky, with a lifetime of hardship behind them, hoping to find peace and begin their lives anew. Eldest brother Aaron Pope returns to his life as a police officer and is settling in just fine. Then Aaron's investigation into an attempted murder leads him right to Dani Owens. She may hold the key to a long-lost part of the Pope family's past, and more importantly, she may hold the key to Aaron's heart.

Release date: July 11, 2023

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Print pages: 463

Sample

Chapter 1

Shirley Wallace woke up on the kitchen floor with her son Sean hovering over her. He had a phone in one hand calling for an ambulance, while holding a kitchen towel pressed against the top of her head with the other.

The taste of blood was in her mouth.

Her body was one solid pain, and it hurt to breathe.

She could hear the frantic tone in his voice, but she couldn’t focus enough to respond.

“Yes, yes, she’s breathing and starting to regain consciousness, but she’s bloody as hell, and I don’t know where all the blood is coming from. Yes, I know who attacked her. Her husband, Clyde. No, I don’t know where he is. Just hurry.”

The 911 dispatcher’s voice was calm and quiet, even as he was dispatching emergency vehicles to the address.

“Sean, stay on the line with me until help arrives,” he said.

“Call my brother,” Sean said. “His name is Aaron Wallace. He’s an officer with the Conway Police Department.”

That was the last thing Shirley heard before darkness claimed her.

The next time she woke up, she was in ER.

“Shirley! Can you hear me? My name is Dr. Malone, and you’re in ER.”

“Where’s my son?” she mumbled.

“He’s just outside this room. You’re safe. He’s safe, and we’re going to make you better.”

---

Sean was frantically pacing outside the exam bay when he heard the sound of someone running up behind him. He turned to look, then breathed a sigh of relief. Aaron was here!

“How is she?” Aaron asked as he slid a hand across his brother’s shoulder.

Sean shuddered. “I don’t know. Jesus, Aaron. He’s never hurt her like this before. I came in from running errands and found her like that. Her face is bloody and swollen. She’s bleeding from both ears and from a huge cut in her scalp, and she has broken ribs, for sure. Scared the hell out of me. Have they found Clyde?”

Aaron lowered his voice. “He’s in jail. They’re processing him now. Mom got off lucky. Clyde walked into a Quick Loan and shot two people dead. He’s high as a kite and talking out of his head.”

Sean froze, unable to believe what he was hearing.

“What?”

Aaron gripped his brother’s shoulders. “Our father just murdered two people in cold blood. Shit has hit the fan. Have you called Wiley? Does B.J. know?”

Sean’s eyes welled. “Oh my God. No…not yet.”

Aaron nodded. “I’ll do it. And I’ll call the school for B.J. Did he ride his Harley this morning?”

Sean nodded.

“Okay. You just stay here with Mom. I’m going outside to make some calls.”

It was the beginning of the end of life as they’d known it.

---

Within a week of leaving the hospital, Shirley Pope Wallace had filed for divorce. By the time Clyde Wallace’s trial came to court, his family’s names and faces were as well-known as his, and they were being judged and found guilty of nothing but bearing his last name.

The Conway, Arkansas, police department decided it would be in the public’s best interest if the son of a killer was not on their force, and despite an exemplary record, they let Aaron go. Clyde was in prison for life, and so, it would seem, was his family.

Aaron’s wife, Kelly, couldn’t handle the pressure and filed for divorce two months before their first anniversary. Again, it was nothing Aaron did. She just didn’t want to be associated with the crime.

Sean lost clients through the IT firm he’d worked for, and was scrambling to make ends meet, and Wiley was reduced to a DoorDash delivery driver, instead of the law enforcement job he’d been hoping for since graduating from the police academy.

B.J. finished his senior year of high school, but skipped the ceremony, unable to face the shame.

Shirley was let go from her job as a receptionist in a dental office and removed from being a volunteer storyteller at a local library. She finally found a job as a dishwasher in a small Mexican restaurant, and was grateful for it.

Then one day, about a year after Clyde’s imprisonment, Shirley got a phone call that changed their world.

---

It was the first week of February and Shirley’s day off. She was doing laundry when her phone rang. She recognized the area code, and without looking at the number, just assumed it was her mother, Helen, calling from Kentucky.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Shirley. This is your Aunt Annie.”

Shirley was a little surprised, but pleased to hear from Annie. She was one of her deceased father’s sisters, and she adored her.

“Hi, Auntie! It’s good to hear your voice.”

“Well, sugar, I’m not calling with good news,” Annie said. “I’m so sorry to have to tell you, but your mother passed away in her sleep last night.”

Shock rolled through Shirley in waves.

“No! Oh my God, no! I just spoke to her day before yesterday. She was in good spirits and said she was feeling fine.” She started crying. “Mom was my touchstone to sanity.”

“I know. I’m so sorry, Shirley,” Annie said.

Shirley was sobbing now, struggling to catch her breath. “Why didn’t Mom let me know she was failing?”

“She wasn’t. Not in the way you mean. Helen never looked at life like that. She just got old, and she was ready to go,” Annie said.

Shirley moaned. “But I could have been there to help.”

Annie hesitated before answering. “Honestly, I think Helen knew you already had more on your plate than you could say grace over. This was how she wanted it, and you have to honor that.”

“I feel like someone just cut the rope to my anchor,” Shirley said, then wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “So, what do I need to know? What do I need to do? I can’t be there before tomorrow at the earliest.”

“No, no. No need to hurry here at all,” Annie said. “Helen always said she didn’t want to waste money on some big funeral, and she didn’t want people looking at her in a coffin. She wrote it all down years ago and showed me where her papers were kept. She will be cremated, and her ashes will be saved for you. She always said when you come home to claim your heritage, she wants you to sprinkle them where the mountain laurel grows. She said you’d know the place.”

Shirley hadn’t thought past the shock of the loss until she heard the words, come home to claim your heritage. Her brother and only sibling had died in a car accident some years back, and knowing she was the sole heir to the land and the home in which she’d been raised, felt like one last hug from her mother.

“Yes. Yes, I know right where she means,” Shirley said. “Thank you for calling, Aunt Annie. I am so sad right now, but the thought of going home to Pope Mountain feels like a godsend.”

“I know,” Annie said. “We all know what’s been happening to you and your boys, and we’re so sorry for your suffering. Come home, darlin’. We love you. You’ll be safe here. This is where you’ll heal.”

“Yes, yes…I will. It will take a while, but I’ll let you know. Thank you for calling. I love you, too.”

After the call ended, Shirley sent a group text to her sons, calling a family meeting for that evening, and after the year they’d just lived through, the text sent them all into a panic.

Getting that message from his mom stopped Aaron cold. He didn’t even go back to his apartment after he got off work at the service station, and drove straight to her home, worried all over again as to what else might be happening.

His younger brothers had all moved home after the fallout to help pay the bills and look after Shirley, but the moment they got her messages, a feeling of dread came over them.

That evening they began arriving within moments of each other, leaving B.J., the youngest, to be the last to get home from his job at a fast-food drive-in. He parked his Harley in a skid, then came running into the house, wide-eyed and pale.

“Mom! What’s wrong?”

“Sit down with your brothers,” she said, then drew a slow, shaky breath.

“Your grandma has died. Aunt Annie said they found her in her bed. She died in her sleep.”

“Oh, Mama!” they said in unison, and jumped up and ran to her, hugging her and commiserating with her, which brought on another round of weeping.

“I’m so sorry,” Aaron said. “We were all going back for Easter right after Kelly and I got married, and then Dad broke your nose, and we made excuses. We were going to go a year ago last Christmas, and that shit with Dad happened and we didn’t. Now this.”

Shirley wiped her eyes. “Your grandma knew what was happening. She always knew. We talked weekly, sometimes more. She didn’t blame us for the situation. Aunt Annie said there won’t be a funeral. Mom didn’t want one. But when we do go there, she wants us to spread her ashes on the mountain.”

“So, we’re going now? After she’s gone?” Wiley asked.

Shirley swallowed past her tears.

“As the only living child, I have inherited the home and land where I grew up. I own it now. We haven’t been welcome in this town for a long time. I want to go home to stay, and I’m asking if any of you want to come with me. We’ll be living in a home that’s paid for, surrounded by family and people who love us, and there is always work to be had in Jubilee.”

Sean sighed. “But Mama, what will they think of us? I mean…we’ll still be Clyde Wallace’s sons.”

Shirley’s chin came up. Her eyes were still teary, but her voice was sure and strong.

“They’ll think I have raised four fine sons,” Shirley said. “And none of us have to bear Clyde Wallace’s name or sins if we don’t want to. You’re not just your father’s child! You’re mine, too, which makes you Popes. You carry the DNA of generations of honorable men within you, and you might as well carry the name as well.”

Aaron stood, his fists clenched. “I choose to change.”

Sean nodded where he sat. “I choose to change.”

Wiley was grim-lipped. “Hell yes, and thank you!” he said.

B.J., the youngest, had tears in his eyes. He’d known nothing but his father’s abuse and rage, and now the shame of being his son.

“I choose you, Mama. I always have,” B.J. said.

Shirley nodded. “Then we’ll do it! Since there are so many of us doing it at once, I’ll contact a lawyer to get us through the process.”

Within the month, it was done. They’d cut the last link they would ever have with Clyde Wallace by rejecting his name.

After that, leaving Conway was easy.

---

March—Pope Mountain

Shirley Pope’s heart was pounding as she and her sons drove their little convoy through the bustling tourist attraction of Jubilee, located in the valley below Pope Mountain. She was coming back to her roots and almost at the end of their journey.

Shirley and B.J. were in the lead.

Aaron was in his SUV behind his mother.

Sean was behind Aaron, driving his car, and Wiley in his car behind Sean, and just ahead of the moving van bringing up the rear.

B.J.’s Harley was in the moving van, and he’d been riding shotgun with his mother all the way.

It had been far too long since Shirley had made this trip. Her eyes were full of tears, but they weren’t tears of joy. She was crying because there was no one left to welcome them home.

Even though six weeks had passed since they’d received the news, Shirley was still in shock that it had happened. Her mother had seemed invincible, even immortal, and had been Shirley’s steadfast backup through her abusive marriage with Clyde Wallace. Helen had always been the gentle voice and the deep wisdom Shirley needed in times of strife.

As they were driving out of Conway, Shirley made a call to Annie, letting her know they were on the way. But it had taken a long day of traveling before they met their moving van in Frankfort this morning to lead the way home.

This was the last leg of a long trip. They didn’t know what lay ahead, but anything would be better than what they’d left behind.

Shirley’s sons only knew what she’d told them about her side of the family. Thanks to their dad, their visits to Kentucky had been few and far between. But they knew their ancestors had lived in this place since the early 1800s. And they knew this mountain they were now driving up on bore their family name. Here, in this place, they hoped to regain their sense of self. To be proud of who they were again. And one day, know that their mother was no longer crying herself to sleep.

From the moment they’d started up the tree-covered mountain, B.J. quit talking and became wide-eyed and quiet—too quiet. After the four-lane highways and the busy streets of their city, the two-lane blacktop on which they were traveling seemed little more than a trail cut through a wilderness. Shirley was worried he was not happy about her decision.

“So, B.J., what do you think?” she asked, then heard him sigh.

“I think it feels safe here.”

She smiled. “Good. Hold that feeling,” and kept on driving. A few miles later, she began slowing down and flipped on her turn signal. “There’s where we turn.”

One by one, the vehicles behind her did the same as she left the blacktop and began following the gravel road up into the trees.

The house was a hundred yards back, all but buried in the woods, but as soon as she passed the twin pines, she saw the house, and then gasped at the sight of a half dozen cars in the yard and a whole row of people lining the front porch.

“Mama, who are those people?” B.J. asked as she parked off to the side.

Shirley shivered, seeing herself in their faces. The high cheekbones. The dark hair. The women’s curves. The men’s broad shoulders.

“Some of our family. Look at them. That’s why you’re all so tall. That’s where your dark hair comes from. Look at them, and you’ll see yourself.”

“Oh wow,” B.J. whispered.

One by one, her sons parked, but when they got out, they headed straight for Shirley, as did the people coming off the porch. After that, they were surrounded, fielding hugs and handshakes.

Then one man who stood a head above the rest spoke up from the crowd.

“Shirley, I’m Cameron Pope, your aunt Georgia’s oldest son. This is my wife, Rusty. Welcome home.”

Shirley was crying. “You were just a boy last time I saw you. These are my sons, Aaron, Sean, Wiley, and Brendan Pope, but we call him B.J.”

Cameron smiled. “Another Brendan, huh? Named after the man who started us all. Good to have some more Pope men on this mountain. I’ve been the only man left with that name since my father’s passing.”

And just like that, Shirley’s sons took their first steps into the family.

Annie Cauley, Shirley’s aunt, slipped up behind Shirley and whispered in her ear.

“We cleaned the house. You have food in your refrigerator. The appliances have been serviced. John will show the boys around outside. You come in now and sit where it’s cool while you tell the movers where you want to put your things. After your call, and mentioning your sons were bringing their own things, we took down the old beds in the spare rooms and stored them all in the attic. Your mom’s living room furniture was past hope. She’d written in her last wishes to have it donated, so there’s plenty of room now for your stuff. And don’t worry. All the family heirlooms are still where she had them. The cupboard. The pie safe. The sideboard. And your great-grandpa’s old secretary desk. We’ll have you set up and comfy before nightfall.”

Walking into the old home place without her mother to greet her was bittersweet, but Shirley took the home as the blessing it was, and by the time night fell, the moving van was long gone. All her sons had their own beds up in their own rooms, and she had her things around her again. Clothes were unpacked and put away, and they’d just sat down to supper at the kitchen table.

There were no sirens or dogs barking outside. No cars honking. No streetlights. Just the glow from the security light between the house and the barn, and their cars, lined up in front of the house like a used car lot.

Shirley looked at the faces of her sons, at the food before them and the familiarity of the room in which they were sitting, and then she sighed.

“Well, we’re here. And right now, I am at peace. Once again, my mother has saved my sanity and your futures.”

“Amen,” Aaron said.

“I’m thankful,” Sean said.

“I’m thankful,” Wiley added.

“Me, too,” B.J. said, and then pointed at the platter of cold fried chicken. “Somebody please pass the chicken. I’m starving.”

Their laughter was sudden, but it felt good to have something to laugh about.

---

The next few days were about settling in. Shirley walked the woods with her sons, showing them the woods and the creek where she and her brother had played in when they were little, and the pond where fish never quit biting. And then one bright morning, she took them to the place where the mountain laurel grew, and scattered her mother’s ashes.

“Love you, Mother. I’ll miss you forever. Rest in the peace you have given to us,” Shirley said, and wiped tears as her sons gathered around her. On the walk back, she showed them the creek that ran through their property. “This creek water is cold year-round. It comes from a long way up, out of a spring in the rocks at the top of the mountain. It runs all the way down through Jubilee, to a river miles and miles away.”

“Did you play here when you were little?” B.J. asked.

Shirley smiled. “When my brother and I weren’t doing chores or going to school, we lived in these woods, waded in these waters. Pope Mountain was our playground.”

Aaron saw the far-off look in his mother’s eyes as she gazed down into the swift running water, and knew she was remembering better days.

As they began to settle in, they talked about getting chickens for a chicken house long since empty, and after a week of sleeping in and lazy days, her sons began looking for jobs. Finding out that their relatives ran a lot of the businesses in Jubilee was a boon they hadn’t seen coming.

After getting Wi-Fi and Internet to the house, Sean set up his own IT office in their home, and his online website, then he began growing a new clientele.

Wiley was ecstatic when he got hired as a daytime security guard at one of the music venues and came home beaming, carrying in uniforms, his badge, and the weapon he’d been issued.

Shirley celebrated with him, but the irony was not lost upon her of having an ex-husband serving a life sentence, and two sons who’d chosen careers in law enforcement.

B.J. got a job driving a delivery van for his Aunt Annie at her bakery in Jubilee, but for the time being, Aaron was staying home to help his mother settle in. He missed being on the force and wasn’t sure where to go from here.

And then one morning not long after their arrival, Cameron called to ask if it was okay if he dropped by that evening after all of the family was home, that there was some family business they needed to know about. Instead, Shirley invited him and Rusty to eat supper with them, and they accepted.

---

“I haven’t cooked for anyone but family in so long I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have company,” Shirley said as she took a big beef roast with vegetables out of the oven and set it on the counter to rest.

Aaron grinned. “You’re a good cook, Mama, and you know it. Do you want me to put the leaf in the table?”

Shirley beamed from the compliment as she nodded. “Yes, to the table leaf. With seven at the table, we’ll need it.”

He went to get the leaf from the hall closet, while Shirley began cleaning fresh vegetables for a tossed salad. She had three apple pies cooling on the sideboard, a basket of dinner rolls beside it, and fresh green beans warming on the stove that she cooked and seasoned with bits of ham. All she needed was for Wiley and B.J. to get home from work, and the company to arrive.

Moments later, she heard a car driving up.

“That’s Wiley,” Aaron said, and then they heard the rumble of B.J.’s Harley as he pulled up to the house. “And that’s B.J.”

“Good. Then all we have to do is wait for Cameron and Rusty.”

“What does he want to talk to us about?” Aaron asked.

“I don’t know, but we’ll find out soon enough,” Shirley said, then winced when the front door slammed.

“Sorry!” B.J. yelled. “The wind caught it. I’m going to shower! Won’t be long!”

Shirley grinned. B.J. had been slamming doors all his life. Today it was the fault of the wind. Tomorrow it would be something else. Truth was, B.J. was always in too big of a hurry to catch it.

Seconds later, Wiley came in the back door. “Thought I’d park out back and leave room for company out front. I’m gonna change.”

Now Shirley could relax. All her boys were accounted for.

---

“Cameron, I need help,” Rusty said, and turned her back to him so he could zip up her sundress.

Cameron turned away from the dresser to come to his wife’s aid. She was holding her long curly hair up off her neck so it wouldn’t get caught in the zipper, and he couldn’t resist a kiss below all those red curls.

“I’d just as soon be taking this off you as putting it on,” he said.

Rusty laughed. “Hold that thought and you can do that later,” she said. “We don’t want to be late.”

Cameron grabbed the zipper tab and pulled it all the way up, then kissed the back of her neck one last time.

“Done and done,” he said as she turned around to face him. “Damn, but you are a beautiful woman, Rusty Pope.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she said, and kissed him square on the lips before tearing herself away. “All I need are my shoes and I’m ready.”

The big white German shepherd who’d been lying in the doorway watching them dress, stood up and whined.

“Ghost is sad,” Rusty said.

“He’ll be fine. I’m not taking a dog the size of a small polar bear out to dinner.”

Rusty frowned. She couldn’t bear it when Ghost whined. “Then he gets the big chew bone, right?”

Cameron rolled his eyes. “Yes, he gets the big chew bone. He won’t miss us after that. Trust me.”

“Ghost. Treat!” Cameron said, and Ghost shot off down the hall at a gallop.

Rusty laughed.

“See?” Cameron said.

As soon as they gave Ghost the bone, he chomped it and carried it to his bed in the living room.

Cameron and Rusty set the security alarm, then locked up and drove away.

It took less than fifteen minutes to get up the mountain to where Shirley and her sons were living now. Just enough time for Rusty to watch the sun moving down behind the tallest treetops. It would be dark in an hour. She loved night on the mountain, almost as much as she loved the man sitting beside her.

They pulled up into the yard and parked at the end of a line of cars.

“Good thing Shirley doesn’t have but four sons. She’d be running out of parking space with any more,” Cameron said.

They were on their way up the steps when the front door opened.

Aaron was standing in the doorway. “Welcome to this house,” he said, then stepped aside for them to enter.

“Something sure smells good,” Rusty said as they entered.

“Mama’s a good cook,” Aaron said. “We used to say that’s why we grew so tall, but after moving here, I’m thinking it was DNA, not roast and mashed potatoes.”

“You’ve got that right,” Cameron said as Aaron ushered them into the kitchen. Sean and Wiley were already there and carrying the food to the table.

Shirley met them with a hug.

“Welcome! Ooh, Rusty, I love that blue sundress. It’s the perfect foil for your gorgeous hair.”

Rusty smiled. “Thank you. Mom and Dad used to blame my hair color on the postman and then laugh hysterically, because no one in our family had red hair. I had to get older to get the joke.”

“That hair is a country all its own,” Cameron said. “It’s what I saw first across a crowded hotel lobby, and then I saw her, and I was done.”

“What a storybook meeting,” Shirley said.

B.J. walked into the kitchen on that last comment.

“Sorry I kept everyone waiting,” he said, then shook hands with Cameron and gave Rusty an appreciative glance, thinking to himself how pretty she was.

Shirley waved a hand toward the table. “Please be seated.” Then she nodded at Aaron to sit at the head of the table and saw the pleased expression on his face. As soon as everyone was in their place, Shirley gave the blessing, then as the passing of food began around the table, Shirley shifted her attention to Cameron and Rusty.

“You two are the first guests in our new home, and we are so grateful for your company.”

“It’s our pleasure,” Cameron said.

Chatter filled the room as they filled their plates, and the boys poked fun at the size of B.J.’s helpings.

“Still growing into those long legs,” Cameron said.

Shirley laughed and, as she did, realized how long it had been since she’d felt this kind of delight.

As the meal progressed, conversation turned to jobs and work. Cameron heard about Sean’s IT business in their home and B.J. making deliveries for Aunt Annie’s bakery. He already knew through the family grapevine that Wiley had gone to work at the music venue for country music star Reagan Bullard.

“So, Wiley. What do you think of Reagan Bullard? Have you met him yet?”

“Yes, I met him my first day on the job. He seems nice enough. I also heard he bought the campgrounds outside of Jubilee and is turning it into a whole new venue. Waterslides. A big swimming pool, pony rides, and a concession stand to go with the little cabins and the campgrounds and fireworks every Saturday night.”

Cameron glanced at Rusty. That place held a not-so-nice history for them, but they’d been aware of the changes after the previous owner’s arrest.

“I heard a bit about that myself,” Cameron said. “A new owner will work wonders for the place.” Then he glanced at B.J. “So how do you like working at the bakery?”

B.J. grinned. “I like it. Aunt Annie is awesome, and the free cookies I get are just fine, too.”

They laughed, even Aaron, who had been silent during the job discussion. But Rusty had noticed his reticence and was curious about the silence.

“So, Aaron, what kind of job are you looking for?” she asked as Shirley began serving slices of apple pie for their dessert.

He met her gaze, but it took everything within him to not duck his head in shame.

“Before Clyde Wallace’s crime spree, I was a police officer for the City of Conway. After Clyde’s trial and sentencing, they let me go. I always wanted to be in law enforcement. I had seven years on the force before Clyde’s killing spree. After all the bad press and publicity, I guess being the son of a killer tainted the badge and screwed up public relations.”

Rusty didn’t blink. “Well, that sucks, but we have a lot in common. I was an undercover agent for the FBI for almost ten years. It’s what brought me to Jubilee, and where Cameron and I reunited after meeting years earlier.”

Aaron blinked. “No joke? A Fed?”

“I liked it, but undercover work is dangerous, and I had too many close calls. I happily gave it up just to have a family again.”

Cameron had been silent through the conversation, but in a lull, he had to ask.

“Have you applied for a job here with the Jubilee PD?”

Aaron shook his head.

“Why not?” Cameron asked.

“We came here to get away from being Clyde Wallace’s sons. I don’t want to resurrect that again with a simple background check.”

Cameron frowned. “Your last name is Pope. ...